Rachel Kelly

Biography

Irish mezzo-soprano Rachel Kelly was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme 2013–15. During this time her roles included Second Esquire (Parsifal), Mercédès (Carmen), Javotte (Manon), Pisana (I due Foscari), Zaida (Il turco in Italia) and Flora Bervoix (La traviata) on the main stage, Cat (El gato con botas) in the Linbury Studio Theatre in Meet the Young Artists Week, Mirinda (L’Ormindo) at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe, and Proserpina (Orfeo) at the Roundhouse. Roles since leaving the Programme include Mercédès.

Kelly studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio. She was a Samling Scholar and a Solti Accademia Young Artist, and won the Bernadette Greevy Competition. Her operatic appearances with Royal Academy Opera included Béatrice (Béatrice et Bénédict), Wu (Maxwell Davies’s Kommilitonen!, world premiere) and Fanny Price (Dove’s Mansfield Park). Engagements since leaving the Programme include Catherine (The Devil Inside, world premiere) for Scottish Opera and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) for Northern Ireland Opera.

As a recitalist Kelly has performed at venues including the Carnegie Hall, St Petersburg Academy of Arts, Wexford Festival Opera House and the National Concert Hall, Dublin. She has sung with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and recorded with New World Records.